I. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to noise-cancelling methods for microphones, and in particular to a noise-cancelling telephone handset.
II. Related Art and Other Considerations
Telephones are often situated in areas with a high level of background noise, for example at railway and underground (subway) stations, airports and adjacent to busy roads. Noise-reducing housings are not always provided for such telephones, as space may be limited, or fire regulations may not allow their use.
In a telephone handset, sound arriving from a distant sound source will tend to result in a uniform pressure over parts of the surface of the handset. Hence, at such points, a microphone system which detects pressure differences will produce little or no output. Sound propagating from a close source will, however, produce large pressure differences over the surface of the handset, and a microphone system which detects pressure differences can be made to produce a large signal.
The conventional approach to noise-cancelling handset design relies on an open mouthpiece structure around a first order pressure gradient microphone. A first order pressure gradient microphone is a microphone which detects a single pressure difference between two pressure-sensing locations. In this approach, both sides of the microphone diaphragm are exposed to the sound vibrations from a pair of holes (ports) in the mouthpiece housing, and distant noise is cancelled out because it creates substantially equal pressures on both sides of the diaphragm. The ports constitute the two pressure-sensing locations for the microphone. This approach is unsuitable for rugged payphone applications because the open structure is fragile, and would be prone to the ingress of dirt and moisture. Traditional theory suggests that the separation of the two pressure sensing locations must be much smaller than half a wavelength for useful cancellation in order that there is sufficient correlation between the noise signals. In practice, this means that the distance between two pressure-sensing locations is of the order of 5 mm, with a maximum separation of about 10 mm.
In non-telephony areas, second order boom microphones are used, for example by pilots, but these are not appropriate for telephony because they rely on the microphones being placed in position close to the mouth, and do not work properly if poorly positioned.